There is no shortage of STEM workers

I first met Sen. Marco Rubio at a Republican fundraiser in 2014 where he was the featured speaker.

“Hi, my name is Mark Thies”, I said. “I’m an Engineering Professor at Clemson.”

“Engineers!”, he said. “Boy, we sure need a lot more of them, don’t we!”

I shook my head in wonder at his comment. Indeed, if you get your news from the mainstream media you might think there’s a big shortage of students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The truth, however, is quite different. For example, Clemson’s engineering enrollment has reached almost 5,300 students – an 80 percent increase since 2008! In my 30 years of teaching, I’ve never seen classes so large – and so many bright students! Equally compelling data are stagnant STEM wages, with increases averaging a tiny 0.4 percent per year from 2000-2012 (cis.org/no-stem-shortage). In 2013, PBS ran a story called "The Bogus High-Tech Worker Shortage: How Guest Workers Lower US Wages". And last week in his blog, Professor Norm Matloff at University of California-Davis pointed out that computer science starting salaries went up a microscopic 0.06 percent last year.

But if Rubio has his way, prospects for our STEM students will be getting substantially worse. That’s because of a bill he is co-sponsoring in the Senate: S. 153, the Immigration and Innovation (I-Squared) Act. If passed, S. 153 would be a game changer — a bill that should scare the heck out of parents paying for a STEM education for their kids. Let’s look at how I-Squared will make it even harder for Americans to get good-paying jobs.

Work visas called H-1B visas are granted to foreign workers who have a bachelor’s or higher degree in a wide range of areas. S. 153 would increase the number of H-1B visas from 65,000 up to 245,000. Contrary to popular belief, there are no worker protections to prevent companies from firing American workers, replacing them with H-1B’s, and even forcing them to train their replacements (e.g., Disney). As pointed out in Trump’s on-line immigration plan, 87 percent of current H-1B holders are paid wages in the bottom third. Imagine what a quadrupling of these visas will do to wages! So this is all about cheap labor – not about top talent.

But the worst aspect of the bill is the provision to give international students a lifetime work visa (a green card) for obtaining any advanced STEM degree. Thus, future immigration policy will be dictated by how many students decide to come to America and obtain/buy a STEM degree/green card and byhow many Universities set up/expand their STEM programs both to educate these students and to help their own bottom line.

I can understand why corporations want legislation such as I-Squared so as to flood the labor market and thus lower STEM wages, but what I can’t understand is politicians such as Rubio who continually advance legislation that provides jobs for others at the expense of our own citizens, whom we pay dearly to educate. Rubio was originally elected by the tea party, but this bill shows him now to be totally in the pocket of corporate donors. His second attempt to destroy the job prospects of America’s STEM students (his first attempt was in the now infamous “Gang of Eight” bill in 2013) earns him an “F” in my class anytime.

Mark Thies is a Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Clemson. His research areas include advanced materials, biofuels, and renewable biopolymers. His email address is SCIM911@yahoo.com.